FW Presents: Those Wonderful Toys Ep.2

May 25, 2017

Chris Franklin shines the spotlight on one of the most notorious action figures in his collection: 1989’s DC Comics Super Heroes Lex Luthor from Toy Biz! Why is this figure so infamous? And what does it have to do with the 1988 Ruby Spears Superman cartoon? Plus, Chris reviews the NEW Funko First Appearance Superman action figure! All this, plus YOUR listener feedback!!!

Great episode! I actually still have this Lex figure. I was done with action figures by this point but only got it since the corporate Lex was so prevalent in the comics at the time. When I saw you were discussing this relatively obscure toy my first thought was “what next, Bob the goon?” and then you made my day,

Here is Jack Nicholson & Tracy Walter discussing how “Bob” ended up in the 1989 movie:

Seriously, while I questioned purchasing Bob then and now, I do appreciate Toy Biz gave us a bit of a deep dive figure. I would have rather had Bruce, Alfred or Gordon (or even Alexander Knox), but hey, they did more than Kenner did with their Batman movie figures. Despite Kenner going WAY deep with every Star Wars character in a background shot, they didn’t apply that to the Batman films, so we never got the important supporting characters.

Dear Mr. Franklin,
Long time listener, first time e-mailer. I just​ discovered all your shows, and I’ve been on a binge listen of them all. Expect a series of emails soon. Anyways, my main reason for writing; Mattel did indeed produce a Toyman figure based on his Superman: The Animated Series incarnation. He was part of the final wave of JLU figures which were sold through Matty Collector. He was sold in a three pack along with Dr. Destiny and Firefly.

In response to Rob’s comments about Michael Bell, I saw Mr. Bell was on a voice actors panel at the first ever Comic Con I attended. He does indeed have many great anecdotes. He spoke of his many roles, yet the character of Zan has a special place in his heart (similar to how Porky Pig meant so much to Mel Blanc). He had the audience practically in tears as he recounted a story of voicing Zan for a promo on the day that the old Hanna Barbera studios closed their doors.

Another entertaining the episode. The highlight for me was listening to Lex repeatedly punch himself in the head. That made me laugh out loud, which probably just confirmed my officemate’s suspicion that I’m crazy.